Budget Hotel Aggregator Startup Qik Stay Raises $250K in Seed Round

Founded in June 2015 by Jasveer Singh, Delhi-based budget hotel branding and aggregator startup, Qik Stay has raised $2,50,000 in a seed round of funding from venture capital firm ID Enablers Pvt Ltd. The raised funding will be used to expand its operations to other cities in India. It plans to launch its iOS and Windows apps soon.

The company was earlier known as ZoZo Stay, and has now re-branded as QiK Stay. It is currently operational in Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Kanpur and Lucknow and partnered with over 30 hotels.

Users can also access its service by visiting company’s website as well as on Android platform. The startup claims that the customers get services like AC rooms with TV, Wi-Fi, breakfast, premium bed linen, laundry, hygienic washrooms and toiletries across all of their partner hotels. It looks to provide premium quality hotels at affordable prices, and a unique standardized experience with ease of booking.

QiK Stay has also brought a Nepal-based hotel under its brand, becoming one of the few Indian hotel-branding chains to have international presence. The company in future plans to enter in international market.

“We guarantee uniform quality and services across all our hotels while at the same time not burning a hole in the customer’s pocket. Aggregation is not the only solution ; we need to start the makeover of the hotels right from the scratch. Unlike our competitors who are aggregating all sorts of hotels, lodges, etc, we only hand-pick very few premium hotels at prime locations. This will not only help us eventually grow as a trusted service provider, but will also let the customers make a trouble-free choice,” said Founder & CEO, Jasveer Singh.

Anshuman Kapur, one of the investor of the company, said, “QiK Stay is an offering which the customers actually need today. Not only does it aim to cater to a social need of affordable premium hotels, it is also capitalizing on the estimated $25-40 billion hotel market in India. We’ve already acquired more than 30 hotels in Delhi-NCR, UP and Punjab, and expect to go pan India in the coming months. We are planning to do so by rolling out unique and exciting offers and programs which we shall disclose in due course of time.”

The similar startups in this space are Oyo Rooms and Zo Rooms among others. Both startups have already raised fundings to fuel their growth. With this invetsment, Qik Stay also plans to begin operations in major cities in North India. The domestic hotel industry is estimated to touch $1.8 billion by 2016, from $0.8 billion presently, as per an ICRA report. The report also added that, an estimated 8.4 million Indians are likely to book hotels online by 2016, up from 3.5 million in 2014.